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examining technology and putting it to use

HOW TO STEP-BY-STEP GUIDES TO IMPROVING YOUR PC

TIP OF THE MONTH

© RAINMETER.NET, MICROSOFT, HANDBRAKE

SYSTEM MONITORING

Are you fan of Rainmeter (www.rainmeter.net) or just want an awesome system monitoring tool? If you’ve got Rainmeter on your system, then Plainext is a fantastic widget by JaxOriginals worth your attention. It gives you a completely customizable live feed of system stats, right on your desktop. Head to Deviant Art or give it a quick Google to get what’s arguably the classiest system monitor out there.

MAKE – USE – CREATE

60Find files and apps quickly

64Rip the perfect media file

68Harness your VPN kill switch

RIP LIQUID COOLING?

That headline makes me sad. I’ve been following the ongoing uproar surrounding EKWB’s fall from grace. From staffing and financial disputes to top employees leaving, there’s no denying the company has certainly hit a major road (water?) block, and with its products climbing ever higher in price as well, it got me thinking.

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This article is from...


View Issues
Maximum PC
November 2024
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Other Articles in this Issue


editorial
RYZEN TO THE CHALLENGE?
Guy Cocker FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS,
QUICKSTART
The Eagle has landed
Intel’s Lunar Lake arrives on the mobile market
HERE COMES THE 5090
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INTEL AND AMD AI PCs THIS FALL
Red and blue teams set to join AI party
Tech Triumphs and Tragedies
A monthly snapshot of what’s good and bad in tech
AMD’S KRAKEN POINT
New Zen 5 mobile aims at Lunar Lake
PLAYSTATION 5 GOES PRO
Play everything in fidelity mode at full speed
Radeon quits high-end cards
JANUARY’S CES should see AMD launch new
Window 11 is gaming favorite
Win 11 has become the most popular gaming
Most AI fails
The tech industry is falling over itself in
US wants Nvidia & Apple to use Intel’s foundries
THE US GOVERNMENT has been busy over the past year or two handing out large subsidies and grants to help boost local silicon manufacturing efforts. Intel was once the undisputed leader in the race for ever smaller and faster fabrication nodes, but after major stumbles in the transition from 14nm-class to 10nm-class technologies, TSMC passed it by.
THE LIST
THE BEST MINI-ITX MOTHERBOARDS
PS5 Pro makes the PC more relevant than ever
THE PS5 PRO has arrived. It’s far, far more powerful than the plain old PS5, but it’s also a lot more expensive at $700. Does the PS5 Pro make gaming PCs look like good value again? Or are GPU prices still so high, you’d have to be very serious about PC gaming to overlook Sony’s latest console?
LETTERS
DOCTOR
THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES...
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WE TACKLE TOUGH READER QUESTIONS ON...
THE BUILDS
THIS MONTH’S STREET PRICES...
RYZEN 9000 UNLEASHED
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Zak Storey puts AMD’s latest chips and motherboards to the test
THE ART OF ETHICAL AI
THE ART OF ETHICAL AI
Is the advent of AI a force for good, or a ticking time bomb?
ADVANCED ENCRYPTION
THE RACE FOR ADVANCED ENCRYPTION
Strong encryption hasn’t always been freely available to the public. Nate Drake tells the story of how the first Data Encryption Standard transformed the cryptography landscape
BEST OF IFA 2024
BEST OF IFA 2024
Berlin’s annual festival of gadgetry is the biggest tech show, at least in terms of attendance figures. That’s because, unlike most conventions, it’s open to the public. Guy Cocker was there ahead of the masses to see the best new portable PCs coming soon.
CENTERFOLD
CENTERFOLD
PERFORMANCE GEAR LAID BARE
WHAT IS ZTNA?
WHAT IS ZTNA?
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R&D
Find files and apps quickly
YOU’LL NEED THIS FLOW LAUNCHER Download the app
Rip the perfect media file
YOU’LL NEED THIS HANDBRAKE Download it from www.handbrake.fr
Harness your VPN kill switch
YOU’LL NEED THIS WINDOWS 11 An up-to-date installation.
Write a novel with Quoll Writer
YOU’LL NEED THIS QUOLL WRITER FOR WINDOWS, MACOS
Hypervisor hell with AMD & NZXT
LAB NOTES
Editor’s Pick: Alienware AW2725QF
One monitor, two native resolutions
IN THE LAB
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
AMD’s top Zen 5 CPU looks very similar to its predecessor on paper
Acer Nitro 14
AMD puts on a good show, but it still lacks punch
Gigabyte FO27Q2
Speed is of the essence with this OLED screen
AndaSeat Kaiser 4 XL
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Gigabyte MO34WQC
An ultrawide that won’t break the bank—or your desk
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2008 called, it wants its projector back
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Razer’s pro controller is even better than Microsoft’s
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Solid and compact, with hot-swappable switches
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Always sees us in the best light but lacks focus: 8/10 boyfriend, er, camera
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Which LLM currently holds the crown?
Chat
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